The Game
by TonyDiNozzo42
Summary: Tony and Gibbs have been playing a game for years. Gibbs thinks its time to stop. Tibbs slash hurt/comfort story one shot. Spoilers for season 2 episode 23, SWAK and anything before it. Slash story, dont like, dont read. Not graphic. I will continue this if ya'll like it.


We play a game,

Me and him

A game that started the day I met him

On the streets of Baltimore

And tackled him to the ground,

Thinking he was a suspect,

And straddled him,

Staring down into those mirth filled, icy blues

Our game could be considered one of

Cat and mouse

The teasing,

The easy back and forth,

The sexual innuendos.

I still haven't figured out who is who

Some days, he's the cat

The predator

The prowling, menacing predator

Sneaking up on his prey,

Standing way too close

Breathing in my ear

And—

Headslapping me.

Other days, I'm the cat

The instigator of our private teasing matches

That could almost be considered foreplay

Before he cuts them off completely

With a stern glare and a growl

And, of course, a headslap.

He likes to hit me

Our little game

Passes much like a ball

Bouncing back and forth

And with as much ease

And, although we've never acknowledged it

I know he misses the game we play when I'm gone

Like when I was kidnapped,

Strapped to a fugitive and dragged across the state,

Shot at, knifed, concussed

And forced to spend days in the hospital

Only to go home with him, every time, as he tried to explain away his reasoning,

"_Only way to keep you outta trouble...doctors said you need to be monitored...not dragging your ass up all those stairs when the elevator breaks... don't trust anyone else...was worried about ya'..."_

And now, it's the same thing

Only different,

Because this time, I fear I won't go home with him

And have to listen to one of his cute little, half-assed excuses

Because this time

I'm sick.

Sick in bed

With plague.

My own body betraying me

When I first found out,

I briefly wondered how I got myself into all this trouble

Then I mentally headsplapped myself

Like he would

Because that's no way to think

It's not my fault, I keep repeating to myself

Almost like a mantra

Because if I don't

I know I'll blame myself,

For everything

I sigh as I open my eyes

Feeling the rattling in my chest

The hitching of my breathes

I'm not in ICU anymore

And I'm thankfully not in that blue room anymore

But I'm still in the hospital

Right down the hall from ICU

Cause if anything goes wrong

They want me there as soon as possible

If my lung collapses

If my heart gives out

If I stop breathing, or cease to live according to medical personnel

They want me in ICU

Because there's gonna be hell to pay

If they don't do everything they can to save me

Not from me though

Oh no, don't get me wrong, I'd be pissed,

But I wouldn't threaten them

Or growl at them

Or bark

Or scream

Or yell

Or threaten to kill them

In a low, menacing voice

If something happened to me

I probably wouldn't have the strength to anyway

Only one man would find it,

Somewhere beneath all that exhaustion

And fear, and sadness and pain.

And he was sitting right next to me.

The day has just started

And already I want it to end.

I wish I wasn't here, I wish I was anywhere but

Here.

He watches me, as I take in one, shallow, breath

In and out, in and out.

As though each one is my last.

As though, it could end any second.

He watches me with the same intensity

As that of a mother watching her child.

Loving, caring, fearful.

Not knowing what is happening

To me.

Not knowing the excruciating pain

That comes with

Each

And

Every

Breath

A normal, albeit involuntary, action

You never know how often you take a breath

Until each one causes a lightening bolt of pain

To shoot through your body

Lighting up your nervous system

Setting off a round of horrible, uncontrollable, breath taking coughs

That leaves you in more pain than before

He doesn't know.

He's just worried

For me.

And that scares me,

More than anything else this place could offer.

Because he is my rock

My support when times are hard.

He is my protector, and if he is so shaken by just this—

I don't dare think such things,

There's no point in it

And nothing good would come of it

I try to take another breath,

Feeling his ice blue eyes,

Ever watchful of me

And my care,

Not looking away

But the breath hitches in my chest

And I feel thousands of tiny knifes poking me

And prodding me

Forcing me to gasp and cough

Forcing the air from my lungs.

He holds me through the worst of the spasms,

Rubs my back and whispers nothing into my ear

And I know, he knows, that this is it

He knows, but won't acknowledge it

I tried to

Before

But he simply waved it off

Told me I wouldn't die

Told me I _couldn't_ die

Because he _needed_ me

_He_ needed _me_

How strange is that?

For a man that means the world to me and more

He _needs_ me

I try again

To say goodbye

Try to apologize for me leaving him

When he needs me so

But he won't have any of it

My first, gasping words barely leave my mouth

Before his covers it

Kissing me gently

And lovingly

No passion behind it

Only love

And he leans back and looks at me

When my need to breathe wins out

And stares at me

A small smile on his lips

A beautiful light in his eyes

That makes him look almost happy

Happier than he's looked since the beginning

Of this whole thing

And says three words

That change the game completely

"I love you."

Those three words give me pause

Love? He _loves_ me?

Never, since the game began,

Have either of us acknowledged there may be

More

Never

But now that he has, it seems so obvious.

Of course he loves me!

And I love him nearly as much

A love that is so intense and strong

That it makes my chest ache in ways

Different than the plague have caused

It aches in a painful, yet almost pleasurable way.

Because he loves me.

Finally, he loves me.

And everything's okay.

Because when he looks down and me,

With that stupid little grin,

And tells me I can't die now

Because he has too many things to do to me

With me

For me

I know, I can't dare disobey those beautiful eyes

And that wonderful man

Who has given me everything.

The ball's now in my court.

I can't control the way the cards are dealt

But he's given me a chance, to change the game

To end this little charade

We started three years ago

To start something that may be more

That may be beautiful,

Wonderful

Despite the odds

But I've beaten the odds

I've beaten the plague,

And now, I can beat anything,

Even my fear of commitment, of love

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

~The End~


End file.
